CAREER: Functional Replacement of Neural Tissue in a Model Organism - Research and Education in Neuroengineering

Georgia Tech Research Corporation, Atlanta GA

Investigators

Abstract

0348338 Butera A primary goal in neuroengineering is the development of "replacement parts," engineered constructs of semiconductor circuits and/or living tissue that are capable of restoring, modifying, or enhancing neural function. Most research on this topic is focused on either small defined neural circuits in invertebrates or the large scale dynamics of in vitro or in vivo mammalian neural circuits. The objective of this integrated research and education plan is to forge a middle ground between the above two extremes: to develop a "replacement ganglion" for a simple organism with a well-studied nervous system (the marine mollusc Aplysia Californica). Efforts are focused on the characterization and development of a functional hardware replacement, and intentionally are not focused on the implant and biocompatibility aspects. Objectives will be accomplished through five inter-related aims broken down into 3 categories: education (E1 and E2), research (R1 and R2), and technology development (T1). E1: Development and testing of course modules for teaching "critical thinking" skills to undergraduate engineering students. The assumption is that most efforts at improving engineering education do not directly address this issue, and that such skills are critically necessary for multidisciplinary fields where engineers interface with life scientists, such as neuroengineering. The investigators plan to address this issue by adapting existing critical thinking exercises and texts to engineering students. E2: Development of complementary laboratory modules for teaching electrophysiology fundamentals to engineering students. This aim will fill some gaps in the existing literature on undergraduate physiology labs, with a bias towards teaching engineering students. Fitting within the constraints of a typical 3 hour engineering lab, these lab modules must be compact, portable, and capable of being implemented from start to completion in 3 hours or less. R1: Characterization of behavioral states and correlation with abdominal ganglion activity in Aplysia Californica. This objective has three studies: the development of a behavioral monitoring system, design of algorithms called behavioral phenotyping, and the use of this monitoring system with concurrent in vivo recording of neural activity passing in/out of the abdominal ganglion. The investigators hypothesize that a set of model parameters (the phenotype) can define normal physiologicsal behavior and this model can be utilized to identify pathological behavior. R2: Design and implementation of a real-time model of the input/output properties of the abdominal ganglion and interfacing to freely behaving Aplysia. This objective has three studies: in vitro characterization of the input/output properties of the abdominal ganglion, the development of a real-time model of these input/output properties (on the architecture to be designed in aim T1) and the testing of this model by interfacing to a freely behaving Aplysia. The investigators hypothesize that normal physiological function of the autonomic systems controlled by the abdominal ganglion is reflective in the animal exhibiting "normal" behavior. T1: To develop a novel real-time computational platform capable of processing up to 8 channels of simultaneous input/output, with sufficient computational power to implement both "black box" kernel-based as well as biophysical neuron models that model the dynamics of an entire neuron population. This architecture is designed for flexibility in model/circuit specification and the ability to handle multiple channels of high throughput data, and is based on the use of field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs).